UConn's bowl loss stings seniors most

The difficulty with the conclusion of UConn football team’s season wasn’t in the result of Saturday’s Meineke Car Care Bowl or even the manner in which the team lost.

Joe Perez

The difficulty with the conclusion of UConn football team’s season wasn’t in the result of Saturday’s Meineke Car Care Bowl or even the manner in which the team lost.

It was that the 24-10 defeat at the hands of Wake Forest ended the careers of 10 Huskies, including five starters.

“You have that little pit in your stomach right now because you didn’t win and we came down here to win,” Coach Randy Edsall said.

“What these guys did for the program … I can’t thank those 10 seniors enough for their leadership, their contribution to the program over four years for some, five years for others, to put us in this position.”

After the game, as the players slowly trickled out of the locker room and made their way onto the team bus, they gave their best effort to hold back tears for each other. After all, the ride from the predicted seventh-place finish in the Big East to conference co-champions down to the second bowl game in team history was one that made this UConn squad a memorable one.

Quickly, the reality that this team will never play together again set in.

“It’s tough, but I had a lot of fun,” senior Tyvon Branch said. “I had a lot of fun with the guys and that’s the toughest part of it. Whether we win, lose or draw, it would have been tough.

“Everybody’s compassionate toward our seniors. The feeling’s mutual.”

Words like anger were used to describe the loss, but to a man, the Huskies believed they would get past the game in short order. It was not giving the seniors the send off they felt was deserved that will linger.

For the players who are returning, the regret weighed heavily.

“For the seniors, I feel bad for them,” tailback Donald Brown said. “We should’ve let them go out on a high note and we failed to do that. They really put this program on the map. I apologize to the seniors.”

The success of this year has spawned positives for the Huskies (9-4). Even after losing three of its final four games by a combined score of 117-34, the taste of winning has caught fire.

They know now there’s much work to be done both in terms of improving themselves and their place in the football landscape. With a five win improvement from a year ago, the consensus on the team is next year will be better, thanks in part to the lessons learned from the seniors.

“Our team is going to be very good next year,” tailback Andre Dixon said. “We're going to work even harder. People said in the (locker room) to pack up and get back to work.”

Reach Joe Perez at 425-4257 or jperez@norwichbulletin.com

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